1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to a fan, and more particularly, to a fan that generates an air flow both in axial and radial directions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, various fans that forcibly ventilate air are used to cool off heat generated from home electronic appliances, such as an air conditioner, a ventilation system and other various electronic appliances.
The fans are classified into axial type fans and radial type fans according to a direction of an air flow generated by the fans. The axial type fans direct the air flow in parallel with a rotational axis, and generate a vast amount of air flow with low pressure. In contrast, the radial type fans direct the air flow generated from an inlet of blades in a direction of the rotational axis, and direct the air flow from an outlet thereof in a radial direction perpendicular to the rotational axis, thereby generating a small amount of air flow with high pressure.
Accordingly, fans are selected to cool heat generated by various apparatuses based on characteristics of the fans. For example, an electronic appliance, such as an LCD TV, collects heat generated from various heat sources (e.g., a display panel, a panel driver, etc.) to a heat sink and forcibly ventilates air through a fan to dissipate the collected heat. If a fan is to be disposed in an upper portion of the heat sink, the axial type fan is selected to be mounted in the electronic appliance. If a fan is to be disposed in a lateral portion of the heat sink, the radial type fan is selected to be mounted therein. In some cases, both the axial type fan and the radial type fan may be mounted in the electronic appliance at the same time as necessary.
However, if using both the axial type fan and the radial type fan, the two fans require a large installation space while noise increases as the two fans are mounted in same apparatus.